


Deep breaths

by snafund



Category: Cancer Crew, Maxmoefoe - Fandom, Youtubers, idubbbz - Fandom
Genre: M/M, cancer crew - Freeform, hearing loss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-02-22 02:39:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13157502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snafund/pseuds/snafund
Summary: Ian is deaf and Max works as his assistant but ends up living with him.Short story that might or might not get a follow-up.





	1. Chapter 1

_‘’Stay still, cunt.’’_ Max was bent forward in front of Ian’s face and signing vigorously to him. The other boy made a face to him and Max moved back up and next to him to continue cutting Ian’s hair. Ian constantly kept wincing at the touch of the scissors on his skin. Max did his best not to cut Ian’s ears off while he wriggled on his seat.

After another ten minutes, Max was finally happy with the results. Ian’s hair was perfectly trimmed, with short sides and a longer portion on top of his head. He smiled at his work and began to pack the cutting equipment in their bag. Ian stood up and ruffled his hair to make sure that no more excess strings of hair were hanging on. He looked in the mirror and gave a satisfied smile to his reflection. He turned to Max and waited for him to finish packing before signing to him.

_‘’It looks perfect, thanks, Maxie.’’_ Ian signed smiling and ended the sentence with his own word he had created for Max as a nickname.

‘’Good that it pleases you.’’ Max said back and wiped off some hair on Ian’s shoulder.

 

Max had met Ian a few years ago through becoming an assistant for people with disabilities. He had worked with a couple of people before Ian, but now he only spent time with him. They had become friends the first day Max had plundered through Ian’s apartment door and shaken his hand with a firm Australian grip. Max had slowly moved onto only helping around Ian’s house and then ended up actually moving in. He divided his life between going to university and living with Ian.

Learning ASL wasn’t hard for Max, since he had learned it a bit in school back in Australia. Ian showed him all the basic signs and slowly over time Max learned to sign perfectly. Ian was also good at lip-reading, so usually Max spoke to him normally.

Max liked California. It had a million times less dangerous and lethal creatures roaming in the streets and he had accustomed to the temperature somewhat quickly. Ian had shown him around the town and his favourite places to hang around. Max had met his friend, George, and they had instantly become friends too.

 

‘’Sushi,’’ Max gestured over the platters of different kinds of sushi on the table. ‘’Is the best thing Japan has come up with,’’ he continued, ‘’after Pokemon of course.’’

Ian nodded at him and clumsily took a hold of a pair of chopsticks. Max chuckled and handed him a fork. ‘’Start with just this, maybe.’’

Ian stabbed a roll of seaweed and rice with the fork and after examining it took a bite. His face went from disgust, to minor gag-reflex to ‘’Mmm, this is actually pretty good.’’. Max watched as the other boy ate the whole roll and took another one. He smiled to him and then began to eat too.

‘’There is one more good thing from Japan,’’ George interrupted Max’s daydreaming. ‘’Me!’’

Ian chuckled at George and showed a thumbs-up to him. Max frowned but then gave a laugh and took another bite of the sushi. George munched down a whole plate in just five minutes and then relaxed onto his chair with a full stomach.

_‘’You’re so fucking fat, George.’’_ Ian signed at him and chuckled. Max poked George on the side and made his back straighten again.

_‘’And you’re fucking disabled, cunt.’’_ George signed at Ian with a sneaky smirk and made the other drop his jaw open in a sign of getting offended, but then a smile. Max laughed out his signature obnoxiously loud laughter and made George laugh too. Ian wasn’t much of a laugher, more of a chuckler and a huffer. The three of them had a pretty twisted sense of humour, some people might think it was a bit stupid at times, but it made them laugh at each other.

‘’Hey, George,’’ Max said after they had stopped laughing and caught their breath. ‘’You coming over for a beer or two?’’

George leaned on his elbows on the table and yawned. ‘’Nah, man, I’ll just go home and catch some sleep. The new album has been a fucking pain in the ass lately.’’

_‘’You sure?’’_ Ian asked and George nodded.

‘’I still have to get through three songs and get the background right on one. But hey,’’ George stood up and got his jacket. ‘’I’ll see you guys over the weekend, yeah?’’

‘’Sure,’’ Max said and smiled to him. ‘’I have an exam to read to, but fuck that.’’

 

Max and Ian walked the way back home since the sushi bar wasn’t that far away. It was already getting dark and the air was a little cooler than during the day. Ian had wrapped his arm around Max’s shoulder. Max wasn’t quite sure at what point they had switched from being friends into best friends and then boyfriends. It just happened.

They walked in a comfortable silence to the front door of the apartment house that their flat was in. Max was used to the silence around Ian; he had only heard his voice a couple of times during the years they had been around each other. The first time he had heard it was when he and Ian were on a holiday in Australia and Ian got surprised by a giant spider. He had yelled Max’s name in the living room of Max’s old house and stood in front of the spider staring at it. Max had come to help him and take the spider by a leg to toss it out the window. Then the name had come up with a couple times under different circumstances, but that wasn’t really something to talk about, if you know what I mean.

_‘’Can you make tea?’’_ Ian signed as they sat watching TV. _‘’You make it so good…’’_

‘’Yeah, just a minute.’’ Max smiled and got up to walk in the kitchen. He had introduced Ian into drinking tea as one of his first things. Max usually made green tea with his own special little twist. He had never told anyone about his secret recipe, but everyone loved the tea he made.

After a while, Max came back into the living room and handed Ian a hot mug. In a couple of weeks hanging around Ian’s apartment in the beginning, he had noticed that it got really chilly inside during the night for some reason. He got them a blanket, sat right next to Ian, and rested his head on his shoulder. They loved watching some stupid game shows in the evening and laughing at them. It was good that the programs usually had an option to put subtitles on so Ian could better understand what was going on.

 

Max slept on the left side of the bed, Ian on the right with the wall on his other side. They would often curl up on the side near the wall to gather up as much warmth as possible. Ian would spoon Max and they’d have sometimes two blankets on them. They disappeared into the blankets and each other, just holding and feeling each other breathing. Ian liked to hold Max close to him to feel him calmly inhale and exhale. He couldn’t hear him, but it made him feel intimate.

 

‘’Morning.’’ Max said as he watched Ian open his eyes. Ian stretched every part of his body and then got up to sit on the bed cross-legged.  He sleepily looked around the room. There was their open wardrobe that had one of Ian’s shirts hanging out and a pair of socks dropped on the floor. Next to it was a huge pile of big containers with all of Max’s Pokemon cards in them and another pile with the ones still needing to be sorted. Most of the stuff Max had got from Australia to California were all his Pokemon cards. The was thousands of them. Ian didn’t much care for them but he liked watching Max sort them and sit next to him on the floor. There was a bunch of Funko Pops climbing up on the wall. Max had left most of them back in Australia to his dad’s house. He just had the most valuable and the ones that held a lot of personal value here in California.

Ian’s eyes trailed back to the bed and to Max lying next to him. Max’s hair was messy and extra curly and it made Ian snicker. Max opened his eyes again and looked at Ian. He yawned and got up to sit next to him. Ian pressed a kiss on his cheek and then pulled back to sign him.

_‘’You need a shave,’’_ Ian said. _‘’Your stubble is getting out of control.’’_

Max scoffed. ‘’You don’t like my idea about growing a manly beard?’’

Ian smiled at him and ran his finger on Max’s jawline. _‘’No, you’re cuter with a clean and soft face.’’_

‘’Cunt…’’ Max said kiddingly and kissed Ian on the lips.

Max and Ian were like a match made in heaven. Ian was calm and kept to himself; Max was obnoxiously loud and sometimes maybe too energetic. Max often cursed out in public even, making most of the people around him feel a little startled, but not Ian. Max would yell out his irritation over the Pokemon cards that had been misplaced or damaged and throw something, and Ian would just think it was cute. George was the same; he didn’t care about what people thought of him and did whatever he wanted. Ian adored that courage in people.

But Ian also liked these more calm and softer moments with Max. Just holding onto each other and kissing and touching each other. Ian loved the smell of Max’s smooth hair and liked to run his fingers through the curls. Max in the other hand liked being groomed and touched.

Max tapped Ian on the knee to make him let go and look at his face. ‘’Let’s go get some breakfast, I have to do a ton of homework today.’’


	2. Poke-nerd

Ian had dropped out of high school years ago. He didn’t like the people in there always holding back and trying to not break him or something like he was a fragile thing. Ian hated people who thought that he was somehow different from other people just because he was deaf. School had been hard for him due to bullying and kids not wanting to be friends with him. That’s why he decided to just stop and live his life on his own. After some time he had got someone to help him on shopping and other things like phone calls etc. But when Max had one day come, his life had taken a 180 degree turn.

He became truly happy for the first time in years and Max made his life so much better. Max didn’t think of him as a fragile teacup, he thought of him like he thought of everyone else. Max did help him in the same thing than the previous assistants, but this time he was given his own space too.

‘’I have to write a paper about the economic resources used in California and I might just die writing this.’’ Max took a bite off his sandwich and slammed his hand onto the keyboard of his laptop. Ian rounded the table to behind Max and read some of the writing on the screen. He didn’t understand half of it but it looked smart. He kissed the top of Max’s head and went to get a new cup of coffee. Max held the bread in his mouth and continued typing. There was already two pages of mindless writing on the screen and he needed four. University really was the best decision he had made.

 

 _‘’You want to go to Wallmart today?’’_ Ian signed a question to Max and finished his third cup of coffee. _‘’I could get you that new box you’ve been talking about.’’_

Max’s face lit up and he closed his laptop. ‘’Fuck yes!’’

 

Max and Ian went to Wallmart usually once a month to get Max something he’d been obsessing about. Usually it was a new Pokemon box with a couple of booster packs, a nice promo card and either a figure or a pin. Ian had taken up to the privilege of buying the boxes for Max. The Australian was like a little kid in the store, running around and finding the best boxes.

They spoke in sign language in public as much as they could so the people around them would notice that one of them was deaf. It was embarrassing for people to come tap on Ian’s shoulder to ask him something and Ian would just look at Max and wait for him to answer them. With them waving to each other, people left them alone.

 _‘’That one looks cool.’’_ Ian signed after giving Max one of the boxes he had found for him. Max looked through the back of the box to see if he already had something that was in it. He then dropped it into the shopping cart Ian was pushing and showed a thumbs-up.

 _‘’Can I get a mystery power box?’’_ Max asked with puppy dog eyes to make Ian give in. _‘’It has 4 normal boosters and sometimes a rare old pack.’’_

Ian chuckled and rolled his eyes. _‘’Sure, but only this time. You get to pay the next one yourself, cunt.’’_

Max smirked at him and dropped the mystery box he was holding into the cart. They made their way to pick up some other things they needed and then to the checkout. Ian went to pack the items and Max took care of the paying. He knew Ian’s credit number since it was easier for Max to handle the interaction with the cashier.

 

Back at their apartment, they quickly put the other items in their places and then went into the bedroom to look at Max’s boxes. They sat down on the floor and Max pulled out the bigger box. He opened it excited and pulled out the booster backs to hand them to Ian and then got out the small figure of Mewtwo.

‘’Wow, this is sick…’’ Max said and flipped the figure around in his hands. He then got half of the packs from Ian and they opened the first ones together. Max had always envied how Ian was always so lucky to get something like a red Gyarados or a full color EX. They had a little game between themselves that they would open a pack and then see who had the best card and the winner got all the other person’s cards. Like so many times before, Ian won this time too and got most of the best cards. He didn’t end up keeping any of the cards he won but always gave them back to Max.

After they had went through the little picture book inside the box, Max got his hands on the mystery box. He peeled the thin plastic off it and opened the top. He turned the box upside-down to make the backs fall out and then gave out a loud yell.

‘’WHAT ARE THOSE!!??’’ Max yelled as he threw the empty cardboard box away and grabbed the vintage pack from between the regular ones. Ian looked at him excited and tapped on his arm to let him see it better.

‘’Cool.’’ Ian said out loud and made Max wince a bit. He smiled happy at Ian and didn’t give much more attention to him speaking but instead looked at the pack with him.

‘’It’s a fucking Platinum Arceus…’’ Max adored the pack in his hands and delicately turned it around to open it but looked at Ian first. ‘’Here we go.’’

Max ripped it open and breathed out as he got the cards I his hands. ‘’One, two, three to the front…’’

They kept totally silent as Max flipped through the cards. There was a bunch of regular cards that were nothing in value, but then came the second last one…

Max breathed in and then out as he held the actual Arceus in his hands. Ian gave him a nudge on the side and smiled as he saw how the card glimmered in the light.

‘’It’s the secret rare level 100 Arceus, oh my GOD!’’ Max yelled again and pulled the last card from behind it and scoffed in disbelief as he saw a holographic Kabutos appear. ‘’Fucking hell, this is insane.’’

Max handed the cards to Ian for a look and ran a hand through his hair. ‘’How the fuck can I pull two insanely rare cards at once?’’ Ian read his lips and smiled to him and gave the cards back. Max leaned forward to get a sleeve for both of the cards and Ian got up to get one of his folders for him. Max delicately put the cards in the folder and looked at them for one more minute in awe.

‘’Thanks for buying me these.’’ Max said after closing the folder and looking up to Ian.

 _‘’It’s nice seeing you so excited.’’_ Ian signed to him and pulled him up from the floor. Max hugged him and kissed him on the neck. Ian hugged him back and let go to help him pick up all the pieces of plastic and cardboard that was littered all over the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some suggestions of what you'd like for me to write :3


	3. Pink Guy(ke)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max gets Ian to bake a cake with him for George's birthday, a pink cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See what I did there? A Pink Guy-ke, pink ca-ke. No? Ok, it was a bad pun.

Ian rubbed his eyes after scrolling through Kickstarter for hours. He loved going through all the weird and stupid stuff people wanted funding for. He had already seen a ‘’tactical pen’’ and an egg that is supposed to make your life ‘’very zen’’. He leaned back on his chair and yawned.

He was startled when Max tapped him on the shoulder. Ian turned around with his chair and looked up to him.

‘’It’s George’s birthday tomorrow,’’ Max said with a grin. ‘’I wonder if you’ve forgotten about it.’’

Ian flinched. He had in fact completely forgotten. ‘’… _Of course I remember, he’s my best friend.’’_

Max scoffed and smirked at him. He offered his hand to Ian and pulled him up from the computer chair. He kept pulling him until their chests bumped together. ‘’Right…’’

They were so close to each other, that Ian felt Max’s slow breaths on his face. He looked at his eyelashes, his eyes, his lips… All so soft and round. Max broke him out of his spell with a kiss on the cheek and swirled off out of the room. Ian stood there alone for a moment flustered before following him out.

               ‘’Let’s make him a cake.’’ Max said as he leaned on the counter in the kitchen with Ian leaning onto the stove opposite to him. ‘’A normal one this time, I ain’t eating anything weird ever again.’’

Ian chuckled at Max and pushed his glasses up a little. _‘’It was one time, George was only joking.’’_

‘’He’s fed me so many different bodily excretions without my agreement that I don’t really trust him with baking his own birthday cake.’’ Max said and made a gagging sound. Ian snickered at him and Max laughed.

               ‘’So, what flavour?’’ Max said as he pulled out three different cake mixes. ‘’Chocolate, lemon or this weird pink thing?’’

Ian immediately grabbed the pink velvet –mix and pushed it into Max’s hands. The Australian smiled in a response and put the other boxes away. They then studied the instructions on the back of the box they had chosen. It seemed not too hard to make and Max went to get all the pots and bowls they needed while Ian got the ingredients.

‘’Just to be extra clear…’’ Max said and held his hands up to make sure that Ian understood to look at them instead of his mouth. _‘’We need all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, water, oil and eggs.’’_

Ian nodded and got the dry ingredients as Max opened the fridge to get the remaining ones. They laid them all on the kitchen counter and Ian got the cake mix box to see what they should do first.

‘’The oven needs to be heated to 165 degrees Celsius…’’ Max mumbled as he read the instructions and turned the knob on the oven.  Ian took the box off him and read how much they needed to add the dry ingredients into the mix. Max was at ready to do what Ian told him.

 _‘’One cup of flour,’’_ Ian signed and made sure Max did as he told. _‘’One cup of sugar... and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.’’_

Max mixed the ingredient around in a big bowl and then let Ian take the spatula to keep on mixing. Max poured one and a half cups of water and two tablespoons of vegetable oil into the bowl. Ian kept on mixing until the consistency was smooth. They didn’t have an electric mixer, so Ian really had to get all his strength into it.

While Ian got the batter mixed, Max had already got the cake pan ready and he just had to pour the batter in it.

‘’What was the time?’’ Max turned to ask Ian as he was pushing the cake inside the oven.

Ian quickly checked the box and looked back to Max. _‘’About 30 minutes.’’_

Max showed him a thumbs-up and closed the oven to put the timer on. Ian was eyeing the mixing bowl and Max gave him permission to take it. ‘’I don’t get why you like eating that.’’

Ian sneered at him and spooned some of the leftover cake mix from the bowl and into his mouth. Max made another gagging effect and started to clean up the slight mess they had made into the kitchen. Ian sat happily on the counter with his bowl and watched as Max bustled around the kitchen.

 

               30 minutes later Max heard the oven beep and jumped off the couch to take the cake out. Ian followed after him and smelt the sweet scent that came from the pink velvet cake.

 _‘’That smells so fucking good.’’_ Ian signed and made Max chuckle at the swear. Max placed the cake pan onto the counter and closed the oven door. Ian examined the pink cake and tried to hold back his drooling over the smell. Max waved him off and flipped the cake upside down so it flopped onto the sheet of baking paper and then smacked Ian’s fingers off from touching it.

‘’NOT YET!’’ Max yelled and Ian quickly withdrew his hand back and snickered. Max smiled and put the cake pan back onto the cake to keep it safe from Ian.

 _‘’When do we decorate it?’’_ Ian asked and pouted.

‘’Tomorrow, first thing in the morning,’’ Max said and took a hold of Ian’s waist. ‘’So it doesn’t get fucked up in the fridge.’’

Ian nodded slightly and looked into Max’s eyes. They were dark and had little wrinkles in the corners as he smiled. Adorable.

‘’So, now we go to bed,’’ Max whispered, although Ian couldn’t know the tone of his voice. ‘’And get a good night sleep…’’ He winked. Ian swallowed hard and got dragged into their bedroom by Max, not forcefully but a little rough. Yeah, ‘a good night sleep’, Ian knew exactly what that meant on Max’s code language.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short one, but I have an exam week coming, so I don't have that much time to write D:


	4. Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Ian go to the beach to fight off the California heatwave and end up spending the whole day there. (I'm bad at summaries, but this is cute, so..)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK AT IT AGAIN
> 
> Sorry for the delay, I was in a writer's block, but here you go. Have a little cute fic to your day :3
> 
> This story is a follow up, but there has been a little time since the last one and things have changed, so now we can have Ian's Save the Squirrels Initiative in it as well :'D

A heatwave was washing over California and Ian and Max were lying in the backyard of their new house. It had been a few months since they’d moved out of the tiny flat into a bigger house. They had to bundle up all their savings and a small fortune of a loan to buy it, but finally they had their own peace and solitude. 

 

The backyard was full of tiny holes and traps where Ian had spent his time extracting squirrels and rabbits. It was a nasty surprise for them to find out about the rodents but after a few weeks Ian had taken up the job to try and get them out. He secretly liked to come up with different ways of catching them and then he and Max would drive out to a park and free them.

 

The Sun was scorching their skin as they laid on the grass. Max had his long curls cut a little shorter, since his hair was so thick. There had been over 80 degrees one day and he had just snapped and walked into a barber. Ian on the other hand was growing his hair out, creating little curls of his own. Max was stunned to find out, that he had naturally curly hair too, even curlier than his own.

 

‘’Max,’’ Ian said out loud to get the Australian’s attention. Max slowly rolled his head to face Ian and looked at his slow signing.  _ ‘’Let’s go swimming.’’ _

 

Max’s face lit up and he bounced into a sitting position. ‘’Hell yeah!’’ He exclaimed and pulled Ian up with him. Max quickly walked in, dodging at least five holes, and rummaged through their wardrobe to find swimming-wear.

 

_ ‘’They’re in the other closet.’’ _ Ian signed calmly and followed the maddened Australian into another room and closet. They had so much extra space that it was still impossible to find anything.

 

‘’Ah-ha!’’ Max shouted as he pulled out his light blue swimming shorts and after that Ian’s black ones. He threw Ian’s on his face and walked past him into the bathroom. There was still enough hair on his head that he could pull them back into a small bun. Ian leaned against the bathroom door and watched as he tied it up.

  
  


The beach was littered with people trying to find easement to the heat. Max and Ian managed to find a small portion of it to lay their towels and then Max surged into the sea, diving under the water. Ian walked after him, slowly getting used to the water. It was warm, but still felt more comfortable than the air.

 

‘’Come on, get in here!’’ Max yelled and reached out to pull Ian in deeper. He almost fell over and as a revenge pushed Max underwater. The Australian jumped up and looked at him sinisterly just to crack up laughing and Ian swore his heart melted even more as it could at the sight of Max.

 

_ ‘’I love you.’’ _ Ian signed and smiled back at Max making the other man jump onto him and tip them both under the water.

  
  


They spent the rest of the day at the beach, walking to a shop at the pier to buy a watermelon and eating it. As the day went on and the heat down, the people started leaving and now the beach was almost empty. Max and Ian watched the Sun set behind the sea.

 

‘’You think we should go back home?’’ Max asked and then looked back at the sunset.

 

‘’Mhmm.’’ Ian got out and then pushed himself of the sand and rolled up his towel. Max did the same and then they walked side by side down the beach. The sand was still warm, feeling nice on the bottom of their feet. Slow, cool wind was blowing and it played with Max’s hair as he had opened it. Ian took a hold of his hand and made Max smile again.

 

They walked the way back to their house and Ian went out to check on his traps as Max put their towels up to dry. Ian was happy to find two squirrels trapped inside one of the cages and put them aside and gave the poor animals a little food and water. As much as he hated the things roaming his backyard, he was still an animal-lover and couldn’t bare to hurt them. Tomorrow morning he’ll go out with Max and set them free again.

 

As Ian got back inside the house, Max was already sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of noodles and another one next to him on the coffee table. Ian walked to the couch and got his bowl and sat next to Max. He was watching old reruns of the -90’s Pokemon series. Max scooted a little closer to Ian and slurped up a mouthful of noodles.

 

After about what felt like fifteen episodes to Ian, Max was ready to switch off the TV and get into bed. They sluggishly walked into the bathroom to brush their teeth. Max combed through his hair and Ian walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water next to his side of the bed.

 

Max slumped down next to him after a while and flopped his arm around Ian’s waist. The American jolted a little at the weight but then turned onto his side to face Max. He brushed a string of hair off of Max’s cheek and slid his hand around him. For a minute, they just looked at each other.

 

‘’Good night, Ian.’’ Max said and Ian signed a half of good night with one hand and snuggled a little closer to him.


End file.
